A Census Chief to Be Counted On

President Barack Obama's recent choice to head the Census Bureau has spot-on qualifications and wins plaudits from the agency's recent chiefs. The nominee, John H. Thompson, could need all of that to contend with a reduced budget, unproven Internet-based survey methods and attempts by lawmakers to do away with questions they see as unnecessarily intrusive.

Census Bureau leadership matters outside Washington because the agency generates most of the statistics that describe the nation. Besides its well-known decennial...